K. Kala of Washermanpet is not just a dog lover. She is a pet parent. Her house is like a kennel — well, actually a home — to more than 20 dogs, many of them strays from the streets. Ms. Kala takes care of not just the dogs in her house but in the streets as well — cooking rice and chicken for them every day.
On Wednesday, Ms. Kala went to Madras Veterinary College in Vepery to attend the first ever Pet Parents Meet at the hospital there. The meet was organised by Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Tanuvas) and inaugurated by its Vice-Chancellor Dr. C. Balachandran.
Ms. Kala is a regular at the college hospital where she befriended V. Sumathi from Ayanavaram. Ms. Sumathi was at the meet to know more about two deadly, but preventable diseases — Paroviral Enteritis and Canine Distemper — that are common afflictions in dogs. In a land where the pronoun, “it”, is used to refer to children, the pet parents use “he” and “she” to refer to their pets. “When their pets cry during treatment, they comfort them saying, ‘mommy is here, don’t worry,’ or ‘daddy will take care’,” says Dr. K. Vijaya Bharathi, Assistant Professor of Madras Veterinary College, explaining why the event was called Pet Parents Meet.
Regular feature
The meet was attended by nearly 50 people from all over the city. For Murali, a resident of Mahabalipuram, the meet meant an opportunity to know about appropriate methods to treat the two diseases for which Ms. Sumathi had come for. “Vaccination is the sure way to prevent these diseases. Enteritis is curable with medicines whereas the prognosis is not so good for Distemper,” says Dr. L. Gunaseelan, Dean of the Faculty of Basic Sciences.
Doctors at the hospital say that Wednesday’s meet turned out to be all about the two diseases that have been great worries to pet parents in the city. They add that such meetings would become a feature of the hospital’s outreach to the pet lovers’ community.
When Ms. Kala wanted to know the reason behind one of her dogs falling prey to Parvoviral Enteritis even after vaccination, Dr. Gunaseelan said it could be because of the failure to maintain the cold chain. “Always visit a doctor to get your dog vaccinated. In your case, you may have carried the vaccine from the pharmacy to the hospital. Also, the vaccine will not be effective, if incubation of the virus has already taken place,” he said.
Veterinarians explained that a few breeds like Rottweiler and Doberman might not respond to vaccination. It is also not advisable to vaccinate a pup before the schedule.
Dr B. Nagarajan, Professor and Head of the Veterinary Preventive Medicine department, said the first vaccination should be given when the puppy is six weeks old and should be followed by two boosters. “Some dogs may remain healthy even after missing the first schedule. But do not forget to vaccinate it on the 16th week,” advised Dr. Nagarajan.
Spread of diseases
Dr. Gunaseelan said since the virus strains can survive in the environment for nearly a year, the afflicted dogs should be treated as in-patients to prevent the spread of the diseases, which happens through dog excreta and saliva.
